Soccer-Upset Uruguayan government to meet over Suarez ban

MONTEVIDEO, June 26 (Reuters) - Uruguay president Jose Mujica will hold a meeting later on Thursday to discuss "options" after a record nine-match ban imposed by FIFA on striker Luis Suarez, local media reported.

Mujica, a 79-year-old former guerrilla whose austere ways and outspoken political views have made him a leftist idol abroad, has defended the Liverpool striker like most furious Uruguayans who deem the ban exaggerated, hypocritical and even biased.

Suarez will miss Uruguay's last-16 match against Colombia in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday and will play no further part in the tournament in Brazil if they progress. (Reporting by Malena Castaldi and Irene Schreiber; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer, editing by Ed Osmond)